Shafali Verma Reclaims World Number 1 Batter Title With 60 Runs Off 30 Balls

Shafali Verma: The 17-year-old cricketer Shafali Verma got 60 runs off 30 balls in the final T20I against South Africa in Lucknow.

The India opener Verma also reclaimed her position as the world number 1 batter in the ICC Women’s T20I Player Rankings.

Shafali Verma got five sixes and seven boundaries and helped the India team defeat the South Africa team with nine overs to spare. In the first six overs, Verma scored 49 off 23 balls. Verma brought up her first international half-century or fifty in India and then proceeded to reach 60 runs.

Verma had first reached the top position in 2020 in the knockout phase of the ICC Women’s T20I World Cup in Australia. She surpassed Australia's Beth Mooney with scores of 23 and 47. She made her Women’s T20I debut for India when she was 15-years-old and was the youngest player to play for India in a T20I match. Verma also became the youngest half-centurion for India in international cricket.

Verma plays for the India women’s national cricket team, also known as the Women in Blue. She has also been awarded a central contract by the Board of India Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

In India, the following cricketers also moved up the list in the ICC Women’s T20 Player Rankings:

• Deepti Sharma moved up four places to the 40^th
• Richa Ghosh moved up 59 places to the 85^th position amongst batters.
• Harleen Deol moved up 262 places to the 99^th position among batters and moved up 76 places to 146^th among bowlers.
• The bowler Rajeshwari Gayakwad moved up 9 places to the 25^th position among the batters and moved up 8 places to 38^th among bowlers.
• Captain and formerly top-ranked batter Mithali Raj moved up one place to the 8^th
• Priya Punia moved up 5 places to 53^rd